Is the Closure of 62 Branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland Relevant in Trying to Understand Loneliness in Scotland 2018?

The appointment by the UK Government of a Minister for Loneliness is to be warmly and supportively welcomed. However, the need for such an appointment raises a cluster of questions about the nature of our society, what we are doing to each other as human beings, the impact of digital technology, consumerist culture, the premium placed on productiveness and usefulness in an economy hardened into globalised competition and corporate ruthlessness. The role of entertainment, electronic amusement, and vicarious online existence, added to ever developing technological capacity, is leaving many behind who are tired of the race, or don't have the resources to participate in a world increasingly dependent on electronic devices and technological savvy.

One example may help to clarify the nature and some of the causes of the loneliness epidemic. In Scotland a few weeks ago the Royal Bank of Scotland announced the closure of 62 branches in Scotland, many of them in rural areas, and a number of them the only local bank in the community. Now the reasons are said to be a response to changes in customer behaviour as more and more customers do their business online. That's a nother argument. My interest is in what the impact of such closures might be in those communities, and in the relationship between such corporate decisions made for economic and shareholder interests, and the social, community and personal diminishment such closures inevitably bring. There is an irony worth pondering in a bank owned mainly by the UK Government, closing bank branches in rural communities and withdrawing the communal exchange and social interchange, the local identity and sense of belonging, that such local services bring. One more opportunity for social interaction is removed; one more identity conferring loceal service disappears. For a lonely person there is all the difference in the world between online banking, and a walk to the local bank to do the business both of the transaction and of human conversation, relatedness, and narrative forming activity. I realise banks are not there to do social work; but they are part of society, and contribute to the common good, but only if they exist other than online.

There are obviously complex causes and explanations for the human experience of loneliness in a culture such as ours. The new Minister for Loneliness is aware of the need for wide consultation, gathering of reliable data, and an exploration of what is a significant cultural phenomenon. The world has never had more people, and yet loneliness is both on the rise, and becoming increasingly evident. You can catch up with the news of the appointment of a Minister of Loneliness here.    The article finishes with this look forward:  "Britain’s loneliness initiative will see a strategy published later this year, with input from national and local government, public services, the voluntary sector and businesses." So the churches in the voluntary sector, what is the church response? Will the role of the churches as communities of belonging be recognised and their experience listened to? I hope so

But I'm just as interested in the  theological and pastoral questions that loneliness raised for the church.  Much of the energy, vision and resources of church communities are being invested in agonising about missional strategy, trying to slow the quickening drip, drip, of the narrative of church decline and closure, persistently pursuing the search for relevance and connectedness, and even praying and hoping for a workable raison d'etre for such a community as a church. Not everything is wrong with much of that, and a lot of it is right, or at least rightly intentioned. 

But before we get to the solutions or alleviations of loneliness it would be wise to try to understand loneliness itself.  As a Christian theologian I sense deeper questions for a church seeking to be faithful to the Gospel as a peace-making, reconciling community energised by the agape of God and seeking to embody the welcome and hospitality of God. Loneliness is a profoundly negating experience for human beings made for relatedness.

The Christian tradition is deeply rooted in the idea of community, relatedness, social being. Christian ethics are by definition ethics of love understood as agape, expressed in the welcome and practical care of and for the other. The incarnation of God in the man Jesus immediately raises the question of the worth of all humanity and each human being's value to God. The Christian understanding of humanity is formed and informed by the doctrine of creation as the personal act of the Triune God, understood as a community of eternal, mutual and reciprocal love. That self-giving creative love overflows in the calling into being of all that is not God, but in its existence is God loved, God sustained, and God purposed. Out of such a theology of eternal love and creative purpose, the biblical narrative gives us the astonishing overheard conversation of the Triune Creator, "Let us make humanity in our image! I know there are textual complexities in those words embedded in the creation narrative, but the fundamental reality is announced. Human beings are created in the image of God, and Gos is Triune. We are mode for community, relatedness, social exchange, mutual and reciprocal experience. Loneliness plunges us into deep and durable questions of what human beings are, what human experience and existence is for, and how that capacity for others is to be lived in communities of belonging, exchange and flourishing.

Comments

[Dave Summers]

I see a kind of virtual geography here which is parallel to the physical geography of our villages, towns and cities. Once upon a time most people, except those who had lost the use of their legs, were more or less equal in terms of their mobility and access to shops and other essential services. Food, clothing and so on were obtainable in any village. Then the railways enabled longer distance commuting, and social segregation as wealthier people moved to new towns and suburbs. Increase in car ownership and lorry movements resulted in two opposite trends: lower urban densities and more centralised provision of services, so that our towns and cities are now largely built around the car, and village shops, where they still exist, are disadvantaged both in price and product range. Basic services are out of walking distance for many people. The majority have benefitted from this, but mobility deprivation is an increasing reality for some. And Government austerity makes it worse, so in my own job I have much less scope (i.e. budget) to redress the balance by better public and community transport provision than I had 10 years ago.
What you describe is a similar increase in inequality in the cyber-world. Just as I like being able to buy a t-shirt in my local Tesco Extra at half past midnight (I once did), I like being able to do my banking in my armchair at any time I choose. I had a friend (who died many years ago now) who was divorced, lived alone and was unable to travel much due to physical disability, but loved renewing old friendships and making new ones all across the world through his computer. Of course he also valued the face to face contacts he had. But for those who do not have computer access, both the absolute and the relative disadvantage are increased.
One of my favourite bloggers, Richard Beck, has suggested that churches should run laundrettes - see http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/instead-of-coffee-shop-how-about.html There are obvious barriers to churches running banks, but is there anything churches could do to offset the isolation, both from banking services and from human interaction, which you describe?
Finally, it strikes me that the job of Minister for Loneliness could be quite a lonely one. I have at times been asked to advise on, or contribute, a chapter on transport to be included in some policy or other (for example, my Council's Children's Policy). I am glad when policy makers recognise that transport is an issue. But my general advice is that they don't need a transport chapter (job done, tick) but a transport audit of every other chapter. Similarly with loneliness.